Winter,
9th Moonstone, 35. My time as leader of this fortress will soon be coming to an end. I have reached Legendary status for my ability to pray to the Blood God Armok. In a few months I will begin my meditation to become the High Priest spiritual leader of this fortress. The Hammer is nearing completion. I can only hope our designs are sound and we can stop the evil waiting below. I swear even high in my quarters I can hear them scratching at the rocks and calling in the dark.
Meph has informed me that I am not insane and in fact we were producing coins before from the metalsmiths forge. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this. If we can shape deadly instruments from holy Adamantine then surely we could pound a bit of metal into round coins. This is fine though as the coin mint is operational and churning out gold coins. I have ordered another worker from the mountain homes.
19th Moonstone, 35. A new citizen has joined us from the mountain homes. She is simply called “peasant.” A humble name in our society dedicated to Armok. Perhaps she will take on a new name if one can be found.
20th Moonstone, 35. Another great forgotten beast has come! Disgusting. It better stay down in those caverns for now. Perhaps one day we will have the military might to venture forth and wipe these monstrosities out from the deeps.
26th Moonstone, 35. I have decided to begin my meditation early towards becoming a high priest. I hope that my prayers will be heard and Armok will bless our hammer to wipe out our enemies. The goblin horde is still outside amongst the corpses of our caravan. Some of them made it into the trade depot before being overwhelmed by the drowspider mounts and goblin bolts. After the hammer falls I shall have the depot sealed and we can bury what dead we can find and claim the goods.
16th Opal, 35. In his excitement to dig out the final few channels Mc Mahrgell dug out a bit of stone from under Urists feet causing him to fall and break his leg. While he is new to the fort I hope not to lose him. Hopefully he can crawl his way out from under the hammer in time.
25th Opal, 35. Urist has made it out from under the hammer. McMeph does the honor of placing the last wall to make sure nothing can enter the fort from the hole the hammer will create. In honor of this occasion as soon as he places the wall he lays one of his good shoes by the block in memory of all lost dwarves fighting the undead.
3rd Obsidian, 35. LET THE HAMMER FALL! The lever is thrown and the great hammer collapses. A sickening crunch is heard from below as we yell out a cheer. We hear the rush of liquids and steam and the telltale sign of magma mist deep below.
Moments after the crunch we hear a great roar rising up from the structure below. This time even louder than before. Amongst the roaring undead we can hear the telltale screetches of frost wraiths and bellowing roars of DevilKin!
By Armok I don’t know what to do. I hope that some of the demons and frost wraiths are susceptible to the magma that is flowing in some parts of the structure. Much of the upper structure has been crushed and few undead remain. We may be able to take these structures with well trained troops and machines. I am afraid to wipe out the remains of the undead army we will need another Hammer. It would appear that a few DevilKin are fighting the undead. Perhaps whatever was keeping the undead in check has fallen to the Hammer. Let us hope the DevilKin can fight through another 1000 animated corpses.
6th Obsidian, 35. I still hear the battle raging below. Thank Armok we had the foresight to seal ourselves away from the hammer. Through small cracks I can see demons flying around inside the former chamber. They, along with the Ice Wraiths, are fighting the Undead. I have witnesses many many beheadings. It appears to be a favorite way for demons to kill. I fear we will not be seeing migrants any time soon. But hopefully we have provided some relief.
8th Obsidian, 35. The commotion is so terrible we have decided to head to the surface to escape it for now. Our next priority is clearing out the trade depot of the kangaroos infesting it. More blood for the Blood God!
At the same time an ambush springs.. on nothing. They proceed to fire all of their bolts at this frozen pond. Must be the same goblin group that kidnapped the giant bane spider earlier.
12th Obsidian, 35. It is pure chaos. The goblins brought giant war bats with them. While I military responded Timeless Bob decided he would take a stroll along the top of our walls. Despite my explicit order for civilian alert in the main halls, he was filled with iron arrows and murdered by the goblins from the outside.
McMeph and Pi Age were both injured in the fight with the giant bat. Suprisingly Pi Age was injured by bolts from the invaders outside the walls. I don’t know how but they are firing through the walls. They will need to be thickened. Mc Meph is currently being diagnosed for his injuries. His right thigh is broken, right thigh is cut open, left hand is torn open, and chest is cut open. I hope he recovers.
Pi Age is still awaiting rescue on the surface. Her left thigh is broken, left thigh cut open, and chest is cut open.
We are at 17 Dwarves. Wait.. where is our chief medical dwarf?
We spot him on top of our southern wall. No recent announcements but I can see through death cause he was riddled with arrows. Dwarves walking in circles along our walls has been a constant thorn in my side since I arrived at this fort. We may need to completely retreat underground.
We must have vengeance. We make a break for it and use the brazier outside our walls. Burn you goblin bastards! Burn! The Blood God with have your boiled blood!
16th Obsidian, 35. By all that is holy! We are dwarves why would we build out of wood. The outer trade bridge was down and caught fire. It is burned to ash. The goblins were about to pour in when Grimmash noticed the trouble. She rushed as quick as she could and pulled the lever on the inner trade gate. I saw a iron bolt fly through the air and it hit the bridge just as it rose. If not for her quickness in pulling the lever it would have landed squarely between Grimmash’s eyes. The land is burnt to ash but the goblins are unharmed. Smart of them to not wear cloth. Shashad has taken on the role of emergency chief medical dwarf with very little skills to speak of.
19th Obsidian, 35. A makeshift hospital has been set up in the main metal processing room. Four beds, four tables, a few cabinets, a chest, and four traction benches. I’ve ordered that the breweries begin pulling water from booze… it hurts inside just saying such a thing. But it is necessary for our dwarves to have water while injured. I hope that soon they will be taken to the hospital. McMeph is being diagnosed as I write this.
24th Obsidian, 35. It is by Armoks grace that we survive. The wooden bridge in the north west corner of our fortress burned while raised. No one noticed. The goblins were luckily unaware of this as they had over a week to walk in at any time. That would have ended us. Note to future rulers, no wooden constructions unless they are actual walls. Also do not fight giant death bats! Do not ever fight giant death bats!
28th Obsidian, 35. My time here as ruler is almost up. I don’t want to pass on the rule of this fortress with it in such a sorry state. I have been informed there was already a hospital set up in the main dining room of all places. I am setting up traction benches there. It will be painful to set the bones.
Armok demands blood but works in mysterious ways. After all this time why does he gift goblins with the ability to fire iron bolts through our walls or send ravenous death bats at us? Also why would a raised drawbridge burn, even if it was made of wood. I will have to pray much at the altar of the minor god Wiki to find the answers.
1st Granite, 36. My time is up. I will request of my successor to give me a life of prayer. Be it sacrificing souls, hearts, or praying day and night at the Shrine of Armok to appease the Blood God and bring us better fortune.
The land around our fortress is burnt and dead. There was no snow at all this year despite the rivers freezing and no signs of the ice giants. There are death bats, goblins, and Armok knows what else outside our walls amongst the corpses of our bretheren.
The Hammer of Armok exposed more undead and unleashed the demons of Hell upon us. From now on I have written that The Hammer shall be known as Kamikazi’s Bane. However I ordered on the last day of spring that all dwarves peer into the shaft that held Kamikazi’s Bane to count the undead. The demons are unstoppable.
In only a few weeks the demons have methodically slaughtered nearly 600 undead. At this rate the undead will be completely wiped out. Perhaps then we can get migrants through.
We have massive food and drink stockpiles and 18 dwarves if I include myself becoming a high priest. The coin mint is up. So is the Armory, Weaponry, Alchemist Lab, and Chemist Lab. We have batches of black powder. I would suggest we start on the machine factory research if we can.
While some dwarves are injured they are being diagnosed and should recover if fed and they get water. Pi is still on the surface complaining he needs a crutch which no one will bring to him. Some workshops are using profiles so keep that in mind. Mostly it’s the religious buildings to force my dwarf to pray.
I’m a little fearful of the wells leading to the third cavern. If demons escape or a flying forgotten beast find their way there we will be in trouble. At least we have amazing weapons and good fighters.
I’m sorry I couldn’t mention more of you by name. So much was just spent on random hauling and digging to make the cave in happen. At the moment everyone is in a burrow that encompasses all of our underground and the above ground courtyard. This should prevent our dwarves from running along the outer walls and being slaughtered like they keep doing.
Good luck my fellow dwarves. If you need me I will be praying to Armok for reprieve from the madness and for soft metals. If I am needed call upon me again.
Here’s the save:
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=8327
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